Treasury’s Inability to Intervene Leaves Municipal Workers Concerned over Pension Fund Contributions

• A municipality's failure to deposit pension fund payments made by municipal employees has placed its employees in a precarious situation
• Enoch Godongwana acknowledged that the National Treasury could only intervene in line with Section 139 of the Constitution if the province failed to carry out its obligation to supervise the specific municipality
• Godongwana stressed that a direct approach by Treasury to a municipality was problematic since the issue needed to be addressed by the province government, which has the ability to deal with such issues

EASTERN CAPE - Failure by the Dr Beyers Naude Municipality to deposit pension fund contributions offered by municipal workers has left its workers with no alternative to a dire situation.

Matters progressively got worse for the workers as Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana expressed that National Treasury did not possess the authority to deal directly with a municipality that has not made a deposit on behalf of the workers into the pension fund.

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Following a discussion started by Democratic Alliance MP Samantha Jane Graham regarding the intervening of Treasury, Godongwana confirmed that Treasury could only act in accordance with Section 139 of the Constitution provided the province did not fulfil their responsibility to monitor the specific municipality.

Godongwana emphasised that a direct approach by Treasury towards a municipality was difficult as the issue needs to go to the provincial government at which the authority to deal with these matters lie.

Godongwana continues to explain the limitations of Treasury as the Municipal Finance Management Programme legislation currently stands.

According to reports by News24, Godongwana stated that Treasury's actions were often limited to a type of moral persuasion as well as naming and shaming.

The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) scheduled for 4 November is set to focus around Pension Fund legislation according to reports by IOL.

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ANC manifesto: Ramaphosa says the ruling party will shift focus to employment in next 5 years

In other government-related news, Briefly News reported that the ANC launched their manifesto on Monday, 27 September, in Pretoria where the party made it clear that employment was atop their list of priorities with local government elections on the horizon in November.

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa made it clear that should the party successfully secure enough municipalities, that labour brokering would come to an end. Thus bringing in the era of essential service outsourcing, in a bid to get the ball rolling in the five-year endeavour to create sustainable livelihoods and jobs.

The party's manifesto placed a high penchant on the youth to tackle unemployment through the development of skills through programmes in communities.

Source: Briefly News